In order to cover the costs of healthcare services provided to residents, Latvia’s government decided on Tuesday, the 20th of December, to approve the proposal to allocate additional funding to the healthcare sector, as confirmed by Ministry of Health.
Of the EUR 22 million of funding, EUR 11.8 million will be used to pay for compensated medicines. This year the value of medicines issued to residents on average every month reached EUR 18.6 million. This means the necessary funding amount for 2022 is EUR 227 million – more than what Latvia can afford. The government did, however, find the necessary funding for this and other priorities in the state budget programme for emergencies.
Regular glucose level monitoring in the blood is a vital part of treatment of sugar diabetes. This is why EUR 667 152 will be spent on procurement of a glucose monitoring system for children suffering from Type 1 diabetes. This funding is also intended for the purchase of disposable insulin pump accessories for existing and new patients. This funding will help provide 397 children with glucose monitoring systems.
EUR 7.6 million will be used to partially pay for the healthcare services provided to Latvian residents in other EU and Eurozone member states. Until now requests for missed payments did not create any additional financial burden, but the situation changed together with the new refinancing rate set by the European Central Bank.
EUR 1.96 million is intended to cover the rise in catering costs for patients in hospitals. The increase of costs is related to the increase of food prices.
The government also approved the allocation of EUR 361 000 to the National Health Service in order to procure Paxlovid medicine, which is necessary to treat Covid-19 patients. EUR 216 000 was allocated to procure iodine-containing tablets.